New Delhi: Three out of five friends who were on a joy ride after a birthday party were killed in the wee hours of Tuesday when their speeding car crashed into a bus parked on Malviya Nagar road in south Delhi.

While three students died on the spot, two were seriously injured and were admitted to Max hospital in Saket. Although police officials have denied drunken driving, a hookah has been recovered from the damaged car.

According to DCP (South) Chhaya Sharma, those killed in the accident include Mayank Pratap Singh Chauhan, cousins Akash and Vikas Sharma while Vipul Garg and Vikas Berwa sustained critical injuries.

Mayank, a resident of Chhattisgarh who lived on rent in Malviya Nagar was a student of B.A. first year at PGDAV College in Lajpat Nagar. Akash and Vikas Sharma were cousins who also belonged to Chhattisgarh and lived on rent in Laxmi Nagar. While Akash was pursuing Chartered Accounting, Vikas was a student of B.Com third year at DCAC. The injured Vipul Garg is also pursuing CA while Vikas Berwa is a student of B.Com first year at PGDAV College.

The Lancer (DL-7 CA 2251) was registered in the name of Sanjeev Agarwal who had sold it to D S Daiswal, a resident of Noida sector 28 but the documents were yet to be transferred in his name.

Nikhil Deswal, son of Deswal had hosted a birthday party on Monday night at a farmhouse in Delhi. The deceased had taken his car while leaving from the party venue at 11.30 PM.

The five friends were taking a joy ride at a high speed from Lado Sarai towards Max hospital. When they tried to overtake a Xylo SUV near the Malviya Nagar taxi stand, the car skidded and rammed into a bus which was wrongly parked on the road.

A case has been registered against the owner of the bus, Naseer Ahmad, at Saket police station. He faces charges under section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).